Following
his official oath of office on Monday, the new HUDCC Chairperson,
retired General Eduardo D. Del Rosario, began his official duties at
sprint speed, directing the officials of shelter agencies to work
closely as “one team” in addressing the country’s housing needs.

“With
HUDCC at the helm, I look forward to working together with the
different shelter agencies as one team moving forward to bring effective
solutions to homelessness and housing needs to the people we have
committed to serve,” the Chairman said.

“I
hope that what we are driven by this single purpose. I expect that we
are all aboard the same boat, heading together in one direction,” he
said.

For
two days, Del Rosario has conducted marathon meetings with the HUDCC
officials, the heads and management teams of the key shelter agencies,
namely the National Housing Authority (NHA), Social Housing Finance
Corporation (SHFC), Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF), Home Guaranty
Corporation (HGC), National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation (NHMFC)
and Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), for briefings on the
agencies’ mandates to identify the priority projects to be tackled.

Building Quality Housing, Eliminating Corruption

The
Chairman also ordered the creation of an audit team to eliminate
inefficiencies and corruption in the implementation of housing projects.

“HUDCC’s
mandate as oversight of the shelter agencies is very clear. And I am
committed to exercise this function, not only in words but in action,”
Del Rosario emphasized.

“The
audit team to be created will focus on tightening the monitoring of the
performance of HUDCC and the shelter agencies especially the
implementation of the housing projects. This will institute a stronger
accountability mechanism among officials and ensure that we are building
quality housing for our family-beneficiaries,” he added.

He
also emphasized that private developers involved in anomalous contracts
will be aggressively pursued and penalized to the fullest extent of the
law.

“Given
the many problems in the housing projects, it is surprising that there
are not a lot of contractors and officials who are being penalized or
even jailed. So I am warning those shelter heads and officials who are
in cahoots with private developers in these anomalous contracts, as head
of the oversight agency, you will not be spared,” he said.

He directed the creation of a team to conduct regular monitoring of all housing projects being implemented nationwide.

“I
am also encouraging the public to use the government platform through
8888 Citizens Complaint Hotline to report anomalies or problems in
relation to housing,” Del Rosario said.

“If
we are committed to deliver on our mandates to provide decent housing
to those who are less privileged, we need to strengthen accountability
and to become more aggressive in running after errant public officials
and fraudulent contractors and developers,” he concluded. ***